RE: Top Flite 1/7 P-51 Build
Since it's so much easier to get a straight line from nose to tail while part of the balsa fuse sides are still exposed, I went ahead and did the numbering for the left side.
I used Faye Stilley's method of making the characters from covering. For 3" high characters, one constructs a grid of 1/4" squares, and Stilley supplies the coordinates to use for each character, the coordinates representing the intersection of lines on the grid. One ends up with a series of dots to connect that result in very nice looking 1/2" wide block gothic letters and numbers, of the size required for the model. It didn't take more than an hour to do the grid on graph paper, punch the dots into the covering with a T pin, cut the characters out, and iron them onto the airplane. I wet the airplane with Windex for applying them, so I could slide them around and get them perfectly placed on the alignment marks, then used the trim iron set to about 210 degrees so I wouldn't get bubbles. So far, so good, but I intend to set this airplane outside in the sun for an afternoon before I ever fly it, to get all the bubbles to show up so I can smack em down.